There's people on youtube that call themselves professional artists and have the skills of an absolute beginner and then you call yourself a beginner but you have the drawing skills and brush control of a professional artist
There is something to be said for hand dexterity and muscle memory - and I do come from a profession where I work with my hands a lot. But I don't think that it's purely technical skills that make you an artist. It's more about what you feel and want to say, what's in your heart, what you see and who you feel you are. And in that domain, I am really not comfortable calling myself an artist, but am instead a beginner. Also, I had only been painting with watercolor for 7 months when I started this sketchbook, so I felt very new to it lol. I appreciate the compliment though! 🫶
Thank you so much Coco! You're an inspiration to me with your grace and humor and rebellious spirit, I really appreciate your kind words and support 🪼💙🫶
Jellyfish! Thank you so so much for this video. It was such a comprehensive insight into the Daniel Smith colours, I found it very helpful. Your sketchbook tours are so informative and the progression you are making is incredible. Many congratuations!
Thank you so much! Your comment really warms my heart, I truly appreciate it. For some reason I had huge creators block when making this video and it took me a month to work up the guts to edit and publish it… and it’s so nice to hear this. Thank you! 🫶💙
Jellyfish. It was wonderful to see how you used all of the DS colors. The jellyfish are stunning. So are too many others to name. But my favourite was the moon cycles. I love the patterns you played with on each of them and the textures you achieved. Made me think I should do this type of thing with my 120 small Amsterdam acrylic colours. When there are so many colours in a range it is hard to get to known them all. your method allowed you to really see what you liked and didn’t like and discover favs. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your lovely comment, and I think you should try it too with your acrylics - it's a fun personal challenge and good way to get to know the colours "personally" 😉🪼💙
That's super inspiring ^^ thank you ! I wrote down a couple of pigments I'll look into in order to expand my watercolor palette ! And I absolutely love both the hanhemule sketchbooks / watercolor books (I almost only use their sketchbooks for painting ^^) !
Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it, and I'm curious to hear which pigments caught your eye 😉 And Hahnmuhle are the bread and butter of sketchbooks for me too, really good for practice and value for money ❤️🫶
Jellyfish, this was such a lovely video, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your process and your exploration of the colours. I have quite a few Daniel Smith paints myself and the dot card. However I would now like to explore the colours better like you did so I have ordered another one!
Jellyfish, Thank you again for a great start to my day! I have been waiting to see your next tour, very interesting approach to sorting out your palette. I don’t have the patience to be so organized and thoughtful in my approach to sorting through the assorted colours and brands. I try, swatching all new paints, then setting up individual palettes for each brand. Lately I have used Holbein pretty exclusively, but after swatching the 12 Shinhan colours, I will set up the palette for those and test them in a new sketchbook. I have moved off many of Daniel Smith colours for similar reasons as you have described, difficult to achieve desired effects. So, I bought other brands. My husband now just rolls his eyes when he is asked to pick up a new package at the post office. I have decided not to purchase more paint, the amount I have accumulated is more than enough! I just need to figure out the colours for my palette and get on with it.
Thank you for your delightful comment, I completely empathize with the art supply addiction, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the video! Also, now you've made me want to try Shinhan, but that's a whole different story of where to find them in Switzerland. 😅🪼💙🫶
Beginner? I think not. Beautiful work! I love Daniel Smith paint, however, they are tricky to make a palette, which is why I've made a few different ones😅 Lovely video. Amazing skills💕
Ah that's so kind! But I have only been painting for 7 months when I started this sketchbook and really felt like a newbie! Agreed that it's hard making a choice from the DS range, it's so wide and the painting experience of the paints varies so much - would it be worthwhile sharing the final palette I'm using? 💙🫶
Jellyfish ❤ love your videos, insights and art! Please dont talk down on any of it! I know we are our worst critics to ourselves, but you are really really talented 😊❤🙏 really!
Thank you so much for this kind comment, you really made my day today. For some reason, sharing this particular video really intimidated me and it took me a month to work up the guts to edit and post it… giving opinions online always feels vulnerable. Thank you so much for the kind words 🥰🫶💙🪼
Jellyfish...your swatching book is impressive. For some reason, I find swatching to be the most boring task in art. I have tried repeatedly to swatch my colored pencil collection, and my watercolor pencils, but I keep stopping due to extreme boredom. Then, when I need to check a color, and my swatch chart is incomplete, I start again...only to stop once more. This is my own form of madness!! I can only dream of having beautiful swatch charts like yours. And, I am a person who always completes what I start...except swatching..your work is very good proving that practice makes the artist, not talent!
Thank for the kind comment, and I have to agree that swatching is a labor of discipline. While I did not mind making sketches in each colour and got quite excited about that - the actual boring swatching part took me 3 months of procrastination to force myself to do it. I had to clear a whole weekend for it and by the end I was so grumpy I was barely managed fit for society 😅🪼🫶
Ahaha thank you, that's so sweet! I only started painting 2 years ago this month, so I still feel very much a beginner, and your encouragement is so appreciated 🫶🪼💙
Jellyfish! Thank you for sharing your exploration into Daniel Smith. I love your paintings, your creativity is inspirational.Though I don't think you can classify yourself as a beginner anymore. However, I do think having a beginner's mind is valuable throughout one's artistic life. I will keep your opinions as food for thought. I am new to watercolor and having fun learning this medium. Quite the contrast from pencil, pen and ink which is my main jam! I have not bought any Daniel Smith just yet. I just bought the W&N Cotman set to start with, which I strongly dislike and regret buying. I am settled on the D.S 24 color set. After exhaustively going through Jane Blundell's webpage, and RU-vid channel. I bought all of her books and I can say I don't find color as mysterious and overwhelming anymore. I had a big "Ah! Ha! moment working with her triad color mixing book. Now, I can create a palette for a painting that has harmony instead of mud LOL. I just found you today and subscribed...will look forward to seeing your other sketchbooks and where you go in the future. Cheers!🖌
I also love Jane Blundell! She has done so much brilliant work into colour exploration, particularly of the DS range. I also studied her work thoroughly when choosing my paints, but eventually it was my own studies that forged my opinions the most. For example the quin rose which I purchased based off her work, but still always find slickly and slimy, and cannot wait to replace it with the quin red which I much preferred in practice… I’m so glad you enjoyed the video though! PS. I agree the WN Cotman sets are very “meh”. But I do enjoy some of their professional grade colours, particularly the scarlet lake and Winsor yellow, which I use now instead of the DS ones. 🪼🫶💙
Excellent swatching/colour experimentation video, thank you. Hoping to try your approach and colour combos. I could say Jellyfish, but picked up a familiar accent right away so I’ll say “Protea” and “Jacaranda” 😉
Aaah LOVE this! You’re making me so homesick now! Thank you for writing and let me know how you get along on your experiments when you get to them! 🪼💙🫶
🫙 🐠 wow, so impressed by this video as well as your creativity and process!! This is such an interesting and thorough examination of the paints and their properties. I learned so much by watching and would love to replicate your method when trying new paints. I found when I was selecting paint for my most recent palette that I gravitated towards Daniel Smith for reds/purples, greens and darker more muted colors (like moon glow, hematite genuine, indigo). Thank you for your labor of love (of watercolors)!
Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And you have great taste: Moonglow is probably my favourite paint of all time, closely seconded by Sodalite genuine and Indigo 😉 although I prefer and use the indigo from schminke which I a find tad more saturated 🫶💙
this has been the most comprehensive and helpful swatching / review video i have seen. thank you so much. could you do the same for schmincke and sennelier lol?
I'm so glad you found it helpful! I originally started off using the Schminke Horadam range and still use some of their colours - specifically the Indigo, Potter's Pink and Perylene green which I prefer to the DS and WN ones. While I did not dedicate a whole sketchbook to testing all the Schminke colours 1 by 1, my first and second sketchbook tour videos have Schminke paints in the sketchbooks. And I will probably share my comparative swatching book at some point when I have have filled it more 😉
Oh my goodness, I couldn't help but stifle a laugh - I find my work so far removed from "flawless", and I think that's the hard part, the way we only see the flaws in our work, whereas others might never even see them. Also in regards to your second comment below, there is something to be said for letting go of expectations and results. Painting makes me so much happier since I've stopped expecting my pictures to look like they do in my imagination or in my reference. It's something that's not natural for me and I'm also a die hard perfectionist by nature, so it's a constant lesson to remind myself of. But the more I "remember to forget the result" and just keep my mind on the process and moving my hand, the more it feels like a pleasure and not a stress. And then there is the constant struggle to let go of perfectionism and realism and I am working all the time to try and be looser, more expressive, less controlled, less perfect. And wow is it hard to be loose! So basically, my own work makes me sad sometimes too, and it's totally normal I think, it's all a process, and some days, when 'm lucky, I feel like I am closer to something, some understanding, some freedom. And other days it's still a frustrating trap where all I see is my mistakes. Don't let it make you sad though, just keep on the journey 💙
In my 31 years of living here in Belgium, and being on the ww net, I discovered that THE EUROPEANS have the BEST ART in the world!!! It is an "indoctrination"! It's in the DNA codefication! I dunno which aliens codified it, but it must be a "blondie", 'coz we asians can't o it! tfs --- love, Cleo777
Hahaha this made me smile, but I have to disagree - some of my favourite watercolour artists whom I admire and worship are Asian. There is talent and beauty in each place 😉🫶
The viridan is a single pigment, PG18, meant to be a transparent granulating emerald green good for mixing and adding a greener tint to other paints. I was disappointed though.
@@TheCherrypipangel I have the Schminke Viridian but not DS. It doesn’t have the intensity of a pthalo green and is really only useful for mixing. It’s a bit unnatural as a stand alone green.
@@karenirving7088 I also had the Schminke viridian on my very first pan set I bought! And it was definitely not beginner friendly, I had no clue what to do with it 😂
Hi, and thank you for letting me know - I'd love to hear what you thought or disagree on - it's a learning experience for me and I'm always happy to expand my horizons 🫶
@@TheCherrypipangel I was interested that you found some of the DS paints “difficult “ to work with. I don’t have all of those colours but the ones I have are well behaved. I wondered if testing paints from dot cards was being “fair” to them.
@@karenirving7088 Thank you for getting back to me, I was curious to hear your thoughts! So, this is a very valid concern, and for the sake of science, at the time I went ahead anyway and purchased some of the paints that I had found slick and sticky on the dot card as a tube version, just because I loved the colours so much. So I decided to order them anyway and give them a fair chance. This concerned 5 paints in particular: lemon yellow, quin coral, quin rose, cobalt blue violet and mayan blue. I am still using the tubes because I want to finish them. But I can confirm, they are exactly as streaky and slimy as on the dot card, and I still hate painting with them and will never buy them again. And the ones that were great on the dot cards were also great in the tubes. So, surprisingly, the dot card seemed to be a really accurate representation of what to expect when you buy the tube 🤓
Jellyfish! Thank you for a fabulous tour of your sketchbook and deep dive into DS paints. I learned so much. I recently purchased a DS dot card of all the colors and hope to swatch them like you did. May I enquire what sketchbook and size you used for your swatches? I'm guessing A4 Hahnemuhle. You are so inspiring! @thecherrypipangel
Thank you for such a lovely message, I'm so glad you enjoyed the video! My sketchbooks in this video are indeed the Hahnemuhle ones, you have a good eye! I use an A4 for my swatch records, and a 21cm square format for the sketching one. I think they're such good value for money, although the paper is not quite as easy to work on as Arches or Saunders Waterford - but it keeps me on my toes lol! 🪼💙🫶
